Gasoline/Petrol prices are creeping up. This photo was taken at an Esso station near Residence U on May 2nd 2006. The three prices listed, 142, 132, and 113 are the price in Japanese yen for 1 liter of High Octane, Regular Unleaded, and Diesel respectively. Yamasa's airport pickup vehicles use regular unleaded fuel, so it is 132 yen per liter.

Okazaki is part of Japan's car country - about 12% of the world's cars are made within 45 minutes of Yamasa - and so the price of fuel is usually slightly less than other parts of Japan. Japan has an image of fast efficient trains, but in this part of the country about 60% of the workforce commute by car, and Toyota Motor, Mitsubishi & Honda are significant employers.

To get an idea of price, at 2006 May 2nd 11am exchange rates at 132 yen per liter it would have cost USD$4.39 per US gallon (3.785 liters per US Gallon), or 91.94 Euro per liter (64 pence for the soggy offshore island). In other words not too expensive compared to many parts of Europe, but a bit pricier than North America and Australia.

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